Alex Rodriguez suspended from baseball for 2014 season

NEW YORK - Alex Rodriguez's drug
suspension was cut to 162 games from 211 by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz, a
decision the New York Yankees third baseman vowed to fight in federal court.

Rodriguez also would be sidelined for
any postseason games this year under the ruling announced Saturday, which costs him $25 million of the $86 million remaining on
his contract.

"The number of games sadly comes
as no surprise, as the deck has been stacked against me from day one,"
Rodriguez said in a statement posted to his Facebook page. "This is one man's decision, that was not put before
a fair and impartial jury, does not involve me having failed a single drug
test, is at odds with the facts and is inconsistent with the terms of the Joint
Drug Agreement and the Basic Agreement, and relies on testimony and documents
that would never have been allowed in any court in the United States because
they are false and wholly unreliable."

"60 Minutes" will offer the first look at the details in the doping case against Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez, including interviews with Major League Baseball's chief witness against him, Anthony Bosch - who says he injected Rodriguez with banned substances - as well as the league's COO Rob Manfred. Scott Pelley's report will be broadcast Sunday, Jan. 12 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Learn some of the first details here.

The three-time AL MVP was given the
211-game penalty by Commissioner Bud Selig on Aug. 5 following Major League
Baseball's investigation of the Biogenesis of America anti-aging clinic, which
was accused of distributing banned performance-enhancing drugs.

The Major League Baseball Players
Association filed a grievance saying
the discipline was without "just cause."

Horowitz, who became the sport's
independent arbitrator in 2012, heard the case over 12 sessions from Sept. 30
until Nov. 20. Technically, he chaired a three-man arbitration panel that
included MLB Chief Operating Officer Rob Manfred and union General Counsel Dave
Prouty.

Despite the ban, baseball's drug rules
allow Rodriguez to participate in spring training and play in exhibition games.

New York Daily News
baseball columnist Bill Madden told CBS Radio News that Saturday's decision may
be the end to Rodriguez's career.

"His
physical situation being what it is, he's not going to be able to come back to
baseball, and that's what baseball wanted - they wanted him out of the
game," Madden said.

In a statement, MLB said: "While
we believe the original 211-game suspension was appropriate, we respect the
decision rendered by the panel and will focus on our continuing efforts on
eliminating performance-enhancing substances from our game."

While the 38-year-old Rodriguez could
fight the ruling in court, judges rarely overturn arbitrators' decisions.

"That's
a real, real longshot," said Nightengale. "There's really no chance
federal court's going to step in and bother with this."

Madden agreed.

"Federal courts do not get involved in arbitration
cases - very rarely," said Madden,
"and they would have to prove that the arbitrator acted in a capricious
manner."

The union said in its own statement
that it "strongly disagrees" with the ruling but added "we
recognize that a final and binding decision has been reached.

"We respect the
collectively-bargained arbitration process which led to the decision," the
union said added.

The Yankees released a statement saying the team would also respect the
decision.

Rodriguez, however, plans to continue
the fight.

"This injustice is MLB's first
step toward abolishing guaranteed contracts in the 2016 bargaining round,
instituting lifetime bans for single violations of drug policy, and further
insulating its corrupt investigative program from any variety defense by
accused players, or any variety of objective review," he said.

"I have been clear that I did not
use performance-enhancing substances as alleged in the notice of discipline, or
violate the Basic Agreement or the Joint Drug Agreement in any manner, and in
order to prove it I will take this fight to federal court. I am confident that
when a federal judge reviews the entirety of the record, the hearsay testimony
of a criminal whose own records demonstrate that he dealt drugs to minors, and
the lack of credible evidence put forth by MLB, that the judge will find that
the panel blatantly disregarded the law and facts, and will overturn the
suspension."

Rodriguez has claimed Selig was on a
vendetta to smear him as a way of burnishing the commissioner's image following
the Steroids Era. Both sides have admitted paying for evidence as they prepared
for the hearing.

Fourteen players were penalized
following the Biogenesis probe, and they all accepted penalties. Milwaukee
outfielder Ryan Braun sat out the final 65 games of the season, the other
players were given 50-game suspensions.

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A-Rod's drug penalty was for "his
use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing
substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone over the course of
multiple years," MLB said last summer. His punishment under the labor
contract was "for attempting to cover up his violations of the program by
engaging in a course of conduct intended to obstruct and frustrate the office
of the commissioner's investigation."

Rodriguez admitted in 2009 that he
used PEDs while with Texas from 2001-03 but has repeatedly denied using them
since.

His penalty was more than double the
previous high for a PED suspension, a 100-game ban given last year to San
Francisco pitcher Guillermo Mota for a second offense. Kansas City infielder
Miguel Tejada was given a 105-game ban last summer following a third positive
test for amphetamines.

Rodriguez is still signed by the
Yankees through 2017 at salaries of $21 million in 2015 and $20 million in each
of the final two seasons, part of his record $275 million, 10-year contract
with the Yankees.

The players' union has often succeeded
at persuading arbitrators to overturn or shorten drug suspensions. In the era
before the drug agreement was reached in 2002, LaMarr Hoyt, Ferguson Jenkins,
Pascual Perez and Willie Wilson were among those who had success in hearings.
Steve Howe's lifetime ban for a seventh suspension related to drugs or alcohol
was cut to 119 days.

Picked first in the 1993 amateur
draft, Rodriguez reached the majors at age 18 with Seattle and was an All-Star
by 20. He seemed destined to become one of the greatest players in the history
of the game, and appeared in line to break the career home run record - he
ranks fifth with 647.

The 65-year-old Horowitz became
baseball's independent arbitrator in June 2012. Shyam Das, who had held the
position since 1999, was fired a month earlier by management following his
decision to overturn Ryan Braun's 50-game suspension for a positive drug test.
In his first decision, Horowitz upheld Mota's suspension.

The U.S. Supreme Court has set narrow
grounds for judges to consider when overturning arbitrators, ruling in 1960
that "the refusal of courts to review the merits of an arbitration award
is the proper approach to arbitration under collective bargaining agreements.
The federal policy of settling labor disputes by arbitration would be undermined
if courts had the final say on the merits of the awards."

In that case, United Steelworkers of
America v. Enterprise Wheel and Car Corp., Justice Stephen Douglas wrote for
the court that "an arbitrator is confined to interpretation and
application of the collective bargaining agreement; he does not sit to dispense
his own brand of industrial justice. ... His award is legitimate only so long
as it draws its essence from the collective bargaining agreement. When the
arbitrator's words manifest an infidelity to this obligation, courts have no
choice but to refuse enforcement of the award."

That case was cited by the 8th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals in 1976 when it refused a request by MLB to vacate the
decision by arbitrator Peter Seitz overturning baseball's reserve clause in the
Andy Messersmith-Dave McNally case.

In an attempt to overturn the
Horowitz's decision, Rodriguez's lawyers could cite section 10 of the Federal
Arbitration Act, which states a decision could be set aside "where the
award was procured by corruption, fraud or undue means" ... "where
there was evident partiality or corruption in the arbitrators" ... where
the arbitrator was "refusing to hear evidence pertinent and material to
the controversy" or "where the arbitrators exceeded their
powers."

Rodriguez walked out of the hearing in the
middle of the Nov. 21 session after Horowitz refused to order Selig to testify.
The sides rested the following day.